Web Design

Your business is different. You want a unique website design that supports your brand.

You don’t have to take a huge amount of time to invent something complicated. Simple websites are often the most effective. Make sure your navigation is easy to follow and the return to Home highly visible.

If you are not comfortable with technology, you can still manage your own WordPress website with the easy to use content management system that is included. This technology allows you to easily make changes and additions to your website. Another advantage of a WordPress website is that it is very search engine friendly and in no time your website as well as any new pages you publish will be indexed by the search engines very quickly .

How you really feel about relying on other people to update your website every time you want to make a change.

Be honest…

It’s frustrating isn’t it? You decide on the additions, send them to your webmaster, wait for days or weeks and once you see the “live” version, you realize you want or need even more changes.

So you have to start the process all over again.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Why put up with the expense and inconvenience when you or an assistant can make the changes instantly with the easy to use content management system (CMS) built into the websites we build.

If you’ve got a computer and a web connection we can build you a website that you or one of your employees can edit in-house, making the changes instantly- when you need them to happen.

Ten Tips to Successful Website Design

Put your website navigation bar where people expect it to be and where they will instinctively look for it.

Spend some time researching good keywords for your website. Google keyword tool or WordTracker.com are helpful keyword tools. Use your keywords throughout the body text, in the title, the domain name, the Meta tags (keywords, title page, and description), the header, and anywhere else it makes sense to do so.

Know what kind of website you will have; information, ecommerce, membership or ? What do you expect of your website?

Make a list of all the pages you want to include in your website. Prepare an outline – just as you would if you were writing a book (e.g., Home, About Us, Products/Services, Contact Us, Links, News, Resources, FAQ, Site Map, Online Store, Testimonials, Privacy Policy, Media Contact, etc.).

Offer value. One of the greatest uses of the internet is research. Use this to your advantage by providing information and products for the people who come to your website. It’s an opportunity for you to do some research as well. Create surveys and ask for the opinions of your visitors and customers.

Have a statistics package (use Google analytics, do not depend on the statistics program that comes with your web hosting package) so you know who is coming to your website and what they are coming for. Then, you can give your visitors more of what they want.

7. Remind people to bookmark your website and tell them they can print out any of your articles for future reference.

Focus on your customers. Your website is not about you, it’s about offering something of value to your customers.

Make any instructions easy to follow and use text links between pages of your website. Offer other information or the opportunity to purchase additional items that are related to your main product.

Ten Website Problems to Avoid

Hosting companies who own your domain name.

Web development companies who insist that Flash is the only way to go. The term “all flash and no substance” really applies in this case. Flash takes longer to load and many dial-up internet users will be on to the next website if yours takes too long to load. Having a flash website is counterintuitive when it comes to being found on the web (search engine optimization).

Companies who will have control of your database and are on a platform that is incompatible with others.

Navigation that is inconsistent throughout the website.

Pages that are too long. Long copy sells but too much scrolling is not user friendly.

Contact information that is difficult to find. If your website is an advertisement, it makes sense to make it easy for people to contact you.

Old content. Keep your website updated or it quickly loses value and appeal.

Pages that take too long to load. ( Google uses load time to evaluate your rank)

Talking about yourself and not your customers. After all, if you want them to hire you – Remember it is all about what THEY want.

Too many different font or design styles. Keep your website simple and clean.